Most positive and negative experience of pro as spectator on-course IRL.

[golfortennis]

2 hours ago, Fairway14 said:

 

Story ?

 

At Wake Forest on his own cause he goes back for a 5th year.  Friend fixes him up with a girl from her sorority.  Andrade is from Rhode Island recall.  Looking forward to the date, but then realizes it's game 7 of the ALCS between California and the Red Sox.  1986.  She shows up, says "if you'd rather stay in and watch the game and grab a pizza I'd be fine with that."  Really wants to watch the game, but decides he needs to make an impression, so no they are going out.

 

Get to his car, and he seems quite polite opening the passenger door for her.  OR so she thinks.  He slides in, saying the driver's door has been stuck for months.  Get to the restaurant, his favorite menu item has too much garlic so he doesn't order it so he doesn't have the garlic on his breath.  She orders it.  Dude is hooked. 

 

Seems like less of a story just typed out here.  IN the flow of the book and hearing his backstory it comes out a lot better. 

[Fairway14]

5 minutes ago, Bluefan75 said:

 

At Wake Forest on his own cause he goes back for a 5th year.  Friend fixes him up with a girl from her sorority.  Andrade is from Rhode Island recall.  Looking forward to the date, but then realizes it's game 7 of the ALCS between California and the Red Sox.  1986.  She shows up, says "if you'd rather stay in and watch the game and grab a pizza I'd be fine with that."  Really wants to watch the game, but decides he needs to make an impression, so no they are going out.

 

Get to his car, and he seems quite polite opening the passenger door for her.  OR so she thinks.  He slides in, saying the driver's door has been stuck for months.  Get to the restaurant, his favorite menu item has too much garlic so he doesn't order it so he doesn't have the garlic on his breath.  She orders it.  Dude is hooked. 

 

Seems like less of a story just typed out here.  IN the flow of the book and hearing his backstory it comes out a lot better. 

 

Good story and the best part was Andrade returning to school for a 5th year.

[golfortennis]

6 minutes ago, Fairway14 said:

 

Good story and the best part was Andrade returning to school for a 5th year.

 

Well he did it because he made a grip change and the prior spring he wasn't going to be beating anybody with where his game was.  He admits himself it wasn't like he was swimming in options in the golf world.

[stryper]

Don’t really have a worst...best was when I was following Rocco at a Champions Tour event.  I must have looked particularly happy at the time, so his caddie said to me, “you’re not allowed to have fun on the golf course.”  Of course, I shot right back with, “well then, I guess you’re working for the wrong guy.”  

 

The previous afternoon, Rocco and Elkington were having fun in a practice bunker holding court for several fans who were enjoying the show.  Super laidback and super cool.

[Hawkeye77]

1.  Rory at 2009 PGA Championship. Was just 20 (finished T3).  He was playing a practice round with Westwood and Clarke.  After they finished on the hole we were on there was a huge line of almost all kids lined up between the stands and towards the next tee box, including my oldest daughter who was 16 at the time.  She still has the hat he signed for her!  Westwood and Clarke were all by themselves about 10 yards away just laughing at the scene, it was great.  A pic of Rory from that day below!

 

2. Andy North - not on course!  He used to go to just about every Iowa-Wisconsin BB game in Iowa City.  I was down there visiting and went with my daughter several years ago. Sure enough well before the game started he was just standing around court side with some other Badger fans.  I asked my daughter if she wanted to meet a two time major champion and she was all for it, so down we went.  Super nice guy and genuinely interested in her golf, who we were, etc.  Still have a pic somewhere, but can't put my fingers on it.

 

Edited October 5, 2020 by Hawkeye77

[garrifij]

I won't get into specifics, but Beau Hossler is complete tool. Almost Aspergery. His caddie basically gave me a shameful "sorry dude" look during the practice round. That's all I'll say, but needless to say, I'm not a fan.

 

Jordan Spieth and Jason Day are as nice IRL as they seem in interviews. Followed them for the day at a practice round in Boston at the Northern Trust (or Deutsche Bank?).

[Ferguson]

7 minutes ago, garrifij said:

I won't get into specifics, but Beau Hossler is complete tool. Almost Aspergery. His caddie basically gave me a shameful "sorry dude" look during the practice round. That's all I'll say, but needless to say, I'm not a fan.

 

Jordan Spieth and Jason Day are as nice IRL as they seem in interviews. Followed them for the day at a practice round in Boston at the Northern Trust (or Deutsche Bank?).

 

 

I liked your post for mentioning Beau Hossler.   

Well done.

 

 

 

[gators78]

I won't hold any interactions against players during a tournament round, but it's interesting to see some beforehand or during a practice round. 

 

The guys that seem like they'd be an absolute blast to play with were Sergio Garcia (weird, I know), Stuart Appleby, and Kenny Perry. They were joking with everyone, super laid back, and just looked like they were having a ton of fun. Steve Elkington is right up there as well. 

 

The one dude that was the complete opposite of what I was expecting...Fred Couples. He seems so relaxed on TV, but in person it's bordering on severe social anxiety. 

Edited October 6, 2020 by gators78

[Valtiel]

On 10/5/2020 at 11:04 AM, garrifij said:

I won't get into specifics, but Beau Hossler is complete tool. Almost Aspergery. His caddie basically gave me a shameful "sorry dude" look during the practice round. That's all I'll say, but needless to say, I'm not a fan.

 

I'd be salty if I had a dumpy dad bod at 20 years old too 😅
 

9 hours ago, gators78 said:

The one dude that was the complete opposite of what I was expecting...Fred Couples. He seems so relaxed on TV, but in person it's bordering on severe social anxiety. 

There have been an interesting mixed bag of stories about Fred and that actually doesn't surprise me too much as it's often the case with people that are supremely talented in specific fields. Doubly so if those fields are largely individual like golf. 

[PedronNiall]

Won't put his name out there since everyone has bad days, but I know there's a reason this guy has just about never shown up in a booth since he left the PGA Tour. Golfers come in all temperaments and this guy was a Richard-and-a-half to everyone I saw come near him when I was younger.

 

As to positives: Doug Barron, Loren Roberts, Payne Stewart, Peter Jacobsen, KJ Choi. On the LPGA side Julie Inkster was super nice when I met her and watched her play.

[MattyO1984]

I’ve mentioned it on here before but, the absolute best, by a million miles that I have ever seen is Jim Furyk.

 

Open 2015 Practice round - 13th tee, there is a group of us (more than 6, less than 12) watching. Part of the group is a young kid, maybe 7 to 9, and his Dad. Furyk comes onto the tee with Fluff and acknowledges everyone watching. He then goes over to the kid who was watching and starts speaking to him. Asks him if he is having a good day, enjoying himself, if he plays golf, what his name is. Just small talk but this kid was just beaming. He was so happy that a Pro was speaking to him. Jim asks if the dad has a camera and says to the kid, would you like a picture. Proceeds to let the kid inside the rope, squats down and poses for a picture with him next to the staff bag. He then gets the dad in and gets Fluff to take a picture of the 3 of them. He then signs a ball for the kid before hitting his tee shot and asking the kid if he thought it was good. Just absolutely incredible. It was such a cool thing to see. Not a difficult thing to do but not something that many of them, if any would do. Do you think that kid is ever going to forget that experience?! Not a chance.

 

The best I have ever had personally - Matt Wallace knew a couple of my buddies. We were down watching him during a practice round at the 2018 Open. On the 7th tee, he comes over and asks if he would like to come inside the rope. Of course we would! We walked the the 7th, 8th and 9th hole with him, Westwood and Snedeker. They were only play 9 holes that day so a bus came out and picked them up and Wallace kept Mickelson who had jumped in as well waiting whilst he took some pictures with us just off the back of the green. Just after that was JT who, along with his dad, was brilliant at the Scottish Open last year. 

 

The worst - Tyrell Hatton - his attitude is horrendous. Some of the language that he used during the Scottish Open when it was obvious there were kids watching was horrendous. I didn’t have much of an opinion on him but after that, my opinion went right down. Other than that, Kuchar was a complete tool at the Ryder Cup, ignoring pretty much everyone. I was a Marshall there but to him and he was the only one of the US team that was like that, we might as well have been invisible and it was the same with the kids trying to get an autograph. Oh and Bob Charles was awful at the Open in 2000. Moaning at the kids that he was “at work” after he had played a practice round. 

[Hawkeye77]

3 hours ago, MattyO1984 said:

I’ve mentioned it on here before but, the absolute best, by a million miles that I have ever seen is Jim Furyk.

 

Open 2015 Practice round - 13th tee, there is a group of us (more than 6, less than 12) watching. Part of the group is a young kid, maybe 7 to 9, and his Dad. Furyk comes onto the tee with Fluff and acknowledges everyone watching. He then goes over to the kid who was watching and starts speaking to him. Asks him if he is having a good day, enjoying himself, if he plays golf, what his name is. Just small talk but this kid was just beaming. He was so happy that a Pro was speaking to him. Jim asks if the dad has a camera and says to the kid, would you like a picture. Proceeds to let the kid inside the rope, squats down and poses for a picture with him next to the staff bag. He then gets the dad in and gets Fluff to take a picture of the 3 of them. He then signs a ball for the kid before hitting his tee shot and asking the kid if he thought it was good. Just absolutely incredible. It was such a cool thing to see. Not a difficult thing to do but not something that many of them, if any would do. Do you think that kid is ever going to forget that experience?! Not a chance.

 

The best I have ever had personally - Matt Wallace knew a couple of my buddies. We were down watching him during a practice round at the 2018 Open. On the 7th tee, he comes over and asks if he would like to come inside the rope. Of course we would! We walked the the 7th, 8th and 9th hole with him, Westwood and Snedeker. They were only play 9 holes that day so a bus came out and picked them up and Wallace kept Mickelson who had jumped in as well waiting whilst he took some pictures with us just off the back of the green. Just after that was JT who, along with his dad, was brilliant at the Scottish Open last year. 

 

The worst - Tyrell Hatton - his attitude is horrendous. Some of the language that he used during the Scottish Open when it was obvious there were kids watching was horrendous. I didn’t have much of an opinion on him but after that, my opinion went right down. Other than that, Kuchar was a complete tool at the Ryder Cup, ignoring pretty much everyone. I was a Marshall there but to him and he was the only one of the US team that was like that, we might as well have been invisible and it was the same with the kids trying to get an autograph. Oh and Bob Charles was awful at the Open in 2000. Moaning at the kids that he was “at work” after he had played a practice round. 

 

Disappointed in Bob Charles, cool that you were a Marshal at the Ryder Cup! 

[Ferguson]

Positive experience.   Many years ago, I was fortunate to have played 3 holes of a 9 hole charity event with Greg Norman.   Every 3 holes, they would rotate in two new guys.   I played holes 7, 8 and 9.   On the tee of # 7, my playing partner asked Greg for a single piece of "driving advice."   I replied, "keep your hands on the wheel and have someone else hold your drink."    Greg laughed.   Then he said, "hit through the ball, it will create more speed." 

 

I made par on all 3 holes and drove the ball perfectly.   To this day, I still think about hitting through the ball every single time I pull Driver. 

 

 

[hammersia]

On 10/7/2020 at 1:35 AM, PedronNiall said:

Won't put his name out there since everyone has bad days, but I know there's a reason this guy has just about never shown up in a booth since he left the PGA Tour. Golfers come in all temperaments and this guy was a Richard-and-a-half to everyone I saw come near him when I was younger.

 

As to positives: Doug Barron, Loren Roberts, Payne Stewart, Peter Jacobsen, KJ Choi. On the LPGA side Julie Inkster was super nice when I met her and watched her play.

Oh come on, you’re saying this guy had only bad days, the point of the thread is that you name him....